FTC reaches settlement with XCast Labs over illegal robocalls

Voip-Pal.Com

02/01/2024 19:11

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators and XCast
Labs have proposed to settle charges that the company
facilitated billions of illegal robocalls, the Federal Trade
Commission said on Tuesday, adding that XCast must cut ties with
firms that do not follow telemarketing rules.
    The FTC also ordered the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
provider to pay a $10 million civil penalty but suspended the
fine "based on its inability to pay," it said in a statement,
adding that the penalty will be due immediately if XCast
"misrepresented its financial condition."
    Regulators sued Los Angeles-based XCast over charges it
helped other companies contact people on the National Do Not
Call Registry and generally deceive them into making purchases
or contributions after previously warning the company multiple
times. 
    "Companies that turn a blind eye to illegal robocalling
should expect to hear from the FTC," Samuel Levine, Director of
the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the statement.
    The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division Principal
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said Tuesday's
order highlighted the department's "efforts to protect American
consumers from illegal robocalls and to stop telecommunications
providers from enabling those calls.”
    As part of the proposed settlement filed with the U.S.
District Court for Central District of California, XCast must
start using a screening process and halt its ties with firms
that do not comply with U.S. telemarketing laws, the FTC said.
    Representatives for XCast could not be immediately reached
for comment on the proposed order.

 (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
 ((sheavey@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8300;))